Podcast Show Notes:

Our This Month In Banking (TMIB) podcast features discussion with colleagues and other industry thought leaders on interesting banking news that happened this month. TMIB will be available on the last Wednesday of every month here, and on Apple and Droid podcast apps for your listening enjoyment. Join us on your commute or at your desk.

Topic 1: Banking with a Purpose

Start time 1:33

This month Paul Van Ostenbridge is TMIB’s guest for the first topic, Banking with a Purpose. Paul Van Ostenbridge of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey is the President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Stewardship Financial Corporation as well as Atlantic Stewardship Bank located in Midland Park, Bergen County, New Jersey where he served in these capacities since the inception of the corporations in 1985.

Stewardship Financial Corporation is a one-bank holding company listed on NASDAQ and trades under the symbol SSFN. Atlantic Stewardship Bank is a commercial community bank with twelve offices in Bergen, Morris and Passaic Counties. The unique charter of the Bank provides for tithing or sharing 10% of earnings each year with Christian and local civic nonprofit organizations. To date, the Bank has given in excess of $9,300,000 to worthy charities.

Paul Van Ostenbridge is a former Director of the New Jersey Bankers Association where he served as the Chair of the Compensation Committee, the President of the Service Corporation and the Chairman of the Insurance Trust. Paul also served as Chairman of the Northern New Jersey League of Community Bankers. Paul currently serves on the Paterson Habitat for Humanity Advisory Board and previously served on its Board of Directors. He also served on the Christian Healthcare Center, Wyckoff, NJ Board of Trustees and is now a member of its Scholarship Committee. Additionally, Paul served on the President’s Council of the Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ.

This year, there were also successful launches of religiously focused Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). In addition, corporations across America make billions of dollars’ worth of charitable donations each year. The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently published a list of the nation’s 12 most charitable companies, along with some of the causes these companies are giving to. How many banks do you think are on the list?

Topic 2: Why Are Bankers Tightening CRE Standards?

Start time 22:15

Banks are increasingly tightening lending standards for commercial real estate loans and are likewise seeing a drop-off in demand, according to a report released Monday by the Federal Reserve Board. The quarterly Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey examined 3 subcategories of CRE lending: construction and land development loans, loans secured by nonfarm nonresidential properties, and loans secured by multifamily residential properties. In the report, Banks generally reported tightening their lending standards on all three major types of CRE loans in the first quarter. In particular, a significant number of banks indicated that their lending standards for construction and land development and for multifamily loans tightened.

Could this be because banks are drawing closer to CRE concentration guidelines issued jointly by federal regulators?

Topic 3: Top Risks for Banks in 2017

Start time 29:03

The risk landscape is constantly changing; conditions today are very different from one year ago. For example, given a healthy economy the Federal Reserve Bank (“FRB”) increased its key interest rate for the second time in four months in March 2017 and anticipates additional gradual increases over the next two years. And on the regulatory side, there’s been a renewed conversation about regulatory reform both in Congress and in the administration. The Chief Risk Officer of $7 billion in assets Park National Bank and a University of Maryland finance professor recently briefed the American Bankers Association on key risks for banks in 2017.

What are your banks key risks?

Watch for episode 18 of This Month in Banking to be released on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 and a new episode on the last Wednesday of every month.